getting support and funding for a trail centre

bobpzero

short story northern ireland co. antrim has next to nothing for xc mtbers. i do have the "break the cycle" dvd it shows a load of dh in various places in ireland but alot of stuff is usually at the mourne mountains or further down south.

so looking get as much info/contacts to do with building a trail centre. its probably impossible but id like to try even if takes a very long time. need pointers on how do up an email to the Department for Regional Development. any help would be greatly appreciated.

should i post this somewhere else?

fletch8928

If I was going to try and achieve your goal then i would start with identifying where its going to be built/would like to build. I would try and get a few names behind you in the local mtbing world. Shops, other riders ect.
I know of this group. http://www.singletraction.co.uk/ . who have done good stuff. There is also a Scottish group that has linked some loch' together. If not more.

I do know folk that will happily drive for a 100 miles to get to a trail centre so check out whats the nearest and also most popular venues, Visit them and get contacts for the people responsible for the builds/upkeep.

Thats the best I can offer or I would be doing it myself.

Northwind

Seems like NI is on the one hand, a tough nut to crack but on the other an incredibly obvious place for a good trail centre. By all accounts your forestry commission are a joke when it comes to bikes?

Where would you want to put it? You've got some decent sized mountains, lots of granite in Mourne if I remember my school lessons rightly...

I don't know a thing about fundraising etc, I'd be glad to help if I could, but I know a wee bit about baiting a hook and it's always going to be money. Regenerating communities, drawing in more tourists. Buzzwords... Northern Ireland's answer to CYB or the 7 Stanes. Data on people travelling FROM NI to ride would be good, I know people do the hop to Kirroughtree etc. Reliable data on the value of Glentress to Peebles, for instance, or CYB to the population of Butt**** Nowhere, Wales. Visitor's centres- the hard part is to actually turn riding into a money maker, which is why CYB and Glentress are getting big absurd visitor's centres, but those draw funding, PR, and help public servants look like they're doing something. Trails aren't glamorous and they don't make money but big flash buildings with cafes and bike rentals and all that are and they do.

But also, knowing the right people, and the name that springs to mind here is obviously Dafyyd Davis, and maybe also Pete Laing... People who don't just build and design trails but who pitch and drive trail developments.

If you can say "We have the support of Dafydd Davis MBE, who created CYB and pioneered the modern trail centre in the UK, and has recently been involved in the project to redevelop abandoned Lee Quarry into a world class mountain biking facility, is involved with the project" or similiar, then that's a goal. That's not just "Random people build trails", it's "We know what we're doing, we've done it before".

You could also take a leaf from Rik Allsop's book... Find a privately owned estate with a forward-looking owner, the sort of place that does landrover days and that sort of thing, alternative land use. They're not likely to be afraid of bikes and it gets round the whole FC nightmare, but it also changes the whole funding model.

But mostly, find people who've had the same thought, NI must be fizzing with daft cyclists who're frustrated just now.

bobpzero

"By all accounts your forestry commission are a joke when it comes to bikes?"
true, its all destined specifically for walkers.

Where would you want to put it? antrim hills is the nearest to me, it is all farmer country and its all single roads also a quarry nearby in use. apart from that id really need help

NI must be fizzing with daft cyclists who're frustrated just now.
sadly theres a fat load of roadies.

apart from that maybe a bus specifc for xc mtbers to hop on in belfast head down to mourne mts and back again would be great.

ill get over to crc asap see what help they can provide.
http://www.trailbadger.com/ for a load of researching

jimmyracoon

I have an email from crc a few weeks ago about trail development in Barnett demense/mary peters area of belfast. I'll try and forward it on to you, There has also been talk of developing magheramourne quarry (near larne) , but i think that has been ongoing for some time. www.magheramourneworks.co.uk

Would love to see some trail centres in N.Ireland. I travel to kirroughtree/dalbeattie/mabie approx once a month with mostly work colleagues (at least 8 and upto 14 people). Crc would be good to get on board. Let us know how you get on.

mtb rik

I'd be more than happy to get involved in any trail design projects over in the Antrim, Down or anywhere else in N Ireland by the way. That's where my mums family come from and I still have a few links over there.

By the way guys, don't limit yourselves to the Sanitized 7, get a wee bitty further inland and have a bash around Drumlanrig. Totally different feel.. Much cheaper to build and maintain and a sustainable model for a trail center based not on a huge grant structure but a partnbership between enthuesiasts, estate and a tiny wee bike shop. Just think what a dirty great big bike shop could bring to the table!!

Pow'r tae yer pedals

Rik

cat_with_no_tail

It might me worth having a word with some of the trailbuilders at the Manx MTB club here on the Isle of Man. I know they've just finished building the Islands first official trail centre. So far, it's only got a short blue and red route, but it's a start.
It's been up a couple of years now, held a few different events, and there are now plans to expand.
It was pretty much done entirely by a handful of regular people with regular jobs, with assistance and support from the government.
For a 1st of a kind type project, you'll more than often have to start off small, just so the sceptics can monitor progress and gauge interest before ploughing tonnes of cash into a project that nobody is interested in.

Personally, I prefer the natural stuff anyway, but it would be nice to have some official black runs and longer man-made loops for a quick blast from time-to-time.

Pufftmw

What about creating a place in Malin Head, Donegal? I've been looking at the NI & indeed Irish MTB scene and there is NOTHING anywhere around.

I have a couple of reasonable hills that are not farmed or anything and are basically overgrown. There is enough land for I reckon at least 5km of trail and possibly area for skills etc. Potential scope for expansion as well.

I was over there this last weekend and walking around (well, it was yomping and fighting my way through gorse/brambles!) and although I know naff all about trailbuilding, I can see some places where the lie of the land would lead to awesome runs. Very steep in places too.

I'm open to ideas/suggestions but would want to keep environmental impact to a minimum.

butcher of bakersfield

Northwind wrote:

I don't know a thing about fundraising etc, I'd be glad to help if I could, but I know a wee bit about baiting a hook and it's always going to be money. Regenerating communities, drawing in more tourists. Buzzwords...

Absolutely. I know nothing about getting trail centres built, and I imagine it's a nightmare because of the costs involved, and the protests you'll receive from the local hippies...but you need to pitch the benefits to the community first and foremost.

If you can, talk to any reputable organisations that can help you out with this. I don't know if MTB has any kind of governing body in Northern Ireland or the UK, but they may well be able to help you. A formal piece of writing from these will have a far greater effect than some guy who wants a trail centre built...

Gather your research and show the benefits of other trail centres: to the local economy, tourism (they'll need convinced that people will travel), possible jobs created, encouraging an eco friendly and healthy activity, positive public perception (vitally important! These people want elected again), etc..

I imagine the council will have places in mind once it's brought up, just be ready with the knowledge of which locations are suitable.

Good luck with it though. It's a massive task, but I'm sure it will be very rewarding if it's successful.

Northwind

Oh, I came across this on a random google the other night, this is the sort of thing I meant...

http://www.forestry.gov.uk/pdf/LagganWo ... Report.pdf

And has some very good numbers. 16000 visitors into a forgotten corner of the highlands, leading to a local tourist expenditure of £280000 and £390000 on a wider footprint... But the real winner is 2.3.1, total budget £250000. So it brought more money into the area in a year than the total upfront investment. That's phenomenal.

There's tons of info in there, and similiar documents almost certainly exist for other forestry centres, there'll be one for all the Stanes, just need to find it. But so much of use to you, shows where they get their funding, what they cost, what they achieve...

The really nice thing about Laggan as an example is that frankly, if the centre didn't exist nobody in the world would have heard of Laggan, there's sod all there. But also that it's an exceptionally high quality centre, and shows the drawing power of difficult, challenging trails- across the borders everyone's obsessing over accessibility and blue routes and drawing in people who're nearby but Laggan shows how you get people to visit from miles away, and that's by making the centre itself a total star.

There's a danger of ending up with a diluted-by-committee centre, which would be probably 10 miles of green route, 10 miles of blue route, a skills loop and a cafe and just maybe 10 miles of red, that'll have "broad appeal". But you don't actually want broad appeal, you want a proper mountain bikers' trailcentre, a Laggan or a Kirroughtree.